Can you beat them?
The First Civilizations Quiz
Ten questions on the river civilizations of Mesopotamia, Egypt, the Indus Valley and China, and on the habits and stories they left us. Every answer is explained.
- 10 questions
- About 3 minutes
- Medium
- Includes a map and a photo
About this quiz
Starting around 3000 BC, cities, kings and writing appeared along a few great rivers in Asia and North Africa. The quiz covers what those first civilizations left behind: the oldest writing, the oldest law codes and stories, a legendary wonder of the world, and a way of counting that still sets our clocks.
Several questions test famous stories against the evidence. The Mesopotamia questions make an easy start, while the Indus Valley and China questions are harder.
Topics in this quiz
Read up first
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Encyclopedia
Egyptian Hieroglyphs
The writing system of ancient Egypt, part picture part alphabet, lost for 1,400 years until the Rosetta Stone let scholars read 3,000 years of history.
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Encyclopedia
Late Bronze Age Collapse
The rapid fall around 1200 BC of the connected Bronze Age civilizations, history's classic warning about how an interdependent world can unravel all at once.
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Encyclopedia
Mandate of Heaven
The ancient Chinese doctrine that Heaven grants rule to the just and strips it from the corrupt, making legitimacy conditional on good government.
